Chicago Cubs News: Ian Happ agrees to three-year contract extension

The Chicago Cubs and All-Star left fielder Ian Happ have reportedly agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $61MM. It has previously been reported on Wednesday morning that the Cubs and Happ had made progress on a contract extension and that news arrived a day after team president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer indicated as much.

Happ's extension with the Cubs will take effect with the 2024 season.

Happ's extension will take him through his age 31 season. For the Cubs, the team has now placed the three members of their core--Happ, second baseman Nico Hoerner, and shortstop Dansby Swanson on a similar timeline.

Happ was in a position where he may have been the best position player on the free agent market this season and now, he has a new deal with the Cubs that will take him through his prime seasons. While some fans may contest that the deal should be longer, at three years of length, it represents as a win for both sides. The Cubs now have Happ locked-in through his prime seasons while the All-Star outfielder has another opportunity to cash-in in three years if maintains the success that he has had since the second half of the 2021 season.

The idea of the Cubs not wanting to sign their homegrown players to contract extensions can officially be discarded. In the past two weeks, Hoyer has discredited the idea that the Cubs do not reward player development. Since the end of the 2022 season, it was clear that Happ and Hoerner were emerging as the leaders of what will be the next contending core of the Cubs. The contract extensions that were signed now opens a three-year window where the goal is clearly for the team to contend at the Major League